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<blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 7715070" data-attributes="member: 6796661"><p>Some ways to make this profitable.</p><p></p><p>You have a portfolio of adventures and maybe one or two adventure paths that you know backwards and forwards and have all the battemaps, terrain, minis, and other play aids for. You would want a professional look, so you wouldn't just throw a bunch of random maps and minis together. They should thematically fit together. </p><p></p><p>You keep running the same games for one offs and run multiple APs/Campaigns (same AP/campaign but different groups). </p><p></p><p>You use free or low-cost scheduling software/services. </p><p></p><p>Running on-line vs in-person is likely going to be more profitable. </p><p></p><p>For one-offs you allow up to 8 players. Maybe you cancel if fewer than 4 sign up (but some money is better than none, so maybe you run it with 2 or 3, depends on the adventure). </p><p></p><p>I think that market may bear a $15-20 charge per seat for a 4-hour session. I would certainly pay that, even with my current gaming. If the DM is good, I would pay for the occasion one-off. If I had a hard time getting a group together, I may pay that much every week for an on-going, well-run campaign. </p><p></p><p>At the lower amount of $15 per see, and say only 4 players, that $60 for four hours. So $15 an hour, or twice minimum wage in Minnesota. If you can get a couple more players, you make more money.</p><p></p><p>If you can consistently fill seats for eight hours a day (basically two sessions per day) and if you are re-running many of the same material keeping your prep time down, you can make living. Are you going to get rich? No, not unless you find a way to manage a large group of GMs and make a cut from all their work, but I don't see the industry anywhere near being able to support that right now. </p><p></p><p>The upfront cost in time and software is high, but I suspect that most GMs who are considering this have already made this investment. They just need to put together a portfolio of adventures and campaigns that they know they can run well, that were popular with players. </p><p></p><p>In-person games would need to be more expensive. I would expect professionalism in terms of the quality of the battlemaps, terrain, minis. Players would have even higher expectations of an in-person GM's presentation. The ability to act can be a big help here. Not a big deal for me, but I think it would be a draw for the kinds of people who would pay for this. If I were to DM in-person events for money, I would tie them to food and drink. Make some money on the catering. A good comparison may be a friend of mine who runs a business running live-play murder mysteries. She has a large Victorian home and is an excellent cook. She can charge quite a bit for a night of what is basically LARPing without dice rolls. The meal is a big part of that. I would cater RPG parties. Have thematic food and drink. The problem with this model, though, is all of the expenses and work to set up. You would probably have to be willing to travel and perhaps you would partner with an event planner so your event can be part of their book events they can offer. I think it would be really hard to do in person full time. </p><p></p><p>That said, my friend that does the murder mysteries often gets businesses to pay for it as an employee event / team building exercise. I think it would be hard to do this for a TTRPG event, but times are changing. If you are in the right market, you very well may find companies willing to pay for such a thing. If you are already in the catering or event-planning business, and love running games, maybe there are opportunities to combines work and hobby. </p><p></p><p>For me, the biggest obstacle is that this is work. You are making your cherished hobby work. If you want to make money, you cant run it like you do your home game. You'll be an entertainer. You'll get tired of running the same games. If you are constantly making new material, the prep time will make it unprofitable. You have to be customer focuses. You'll be judged and commented on. You'll have to deal with unreasonable players that you may depend on for your livelihood. For some people, it will work out. For most it won't. Loving to do an activities doesn't mean you'll love trying to make a living from it. If I had to make a living running games, I would probably come to hate gaming.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MNblockhead, post: 7715070, member: 6796661"] Some ways to make this profitable. You have a portfolio of adventures and maybe one or two adventure paths that you know backwards and forwards and have all the battemaps, terrain, minis, and other play aids for. You would want a professional look, so you wouldn't just throw a bunch of random maps and minis together. They should thematically fit together. You keep running the same games for one offs and run multiple APs/Campaigns (same AP/campaign but different groups). You use free or low-cost scheduling software/services. Running on-line vs in-person is likely going to be more profitable. For one-offs you allow up to 8 players. Maybe you cancel if fewer than 4 sign up (but some money is better than none, so maybe you run it with 2 or 3, depends on the adventure). I think that market may bear a $15-20 charge per seat for a 4-hour session. I would certainly pay that, even with my current gaming. If the DM is good, I would pay for the occasion one-off. If I had a hard time getting a group together, I may pay that much every week for an on-going, well-run campaign. At the lower amount of $15 per see, and say only 4 players, that $60 for four hours. So $15 an hour, or twice minimum wage in Minnesota. If you can get a couple more players, you make more money. If you can consistently fill seats for eight hours a day (basically two sessions per day) and if you are re-running many of the same material keeping your prep time down, you can make living. Are you going to get rich? No, not unless you find a way to manage a large group of GMs and make a cut from all their work, but I don't see the industry anywhere near being able to support that right now. The upfront cost in time and software is high, but I suspect that most GMs who are considering this have already made this investment. They just need to put together a portfolio of adventures and campaigns that they know they can run well, that were popular with players. In-person games would need to be more expensive. I would expect professionalism in terms of the quality of the battlemaps, terrain, minis. Players would have even higher expectations of an in-person GM's presentation. The ability to act can be a big help here. Not a big deal for me, but I think it would be a draw for the kinds of people who would pay for this. If I were to DM in-person events for money, I would tie them to food and drink. Make some money on the catering. A good comparison may be a friend of mine who runs a business running live-play murder mysteries. She has a large Victorian home and is an excellent cook. She can charge quite a bit for a night of what is basically LARPing without dice rolls. The meal is a big part of that. I would cater RPG parties. Have thematic food and drink. The problem with this model, though, is all of the expenses and work to set up. You would probably have to be willing to travel and perhaps you would partner with an event planner so your event can be part of their book events they can offer. I think it would be really hard to do in person full time. That said, my friend that does the murder mysteries often gets businesses to pay for it as an employee event / team building exercise. I think it would be hard to do this for a TTRPG event, but times are changing. If you are in the right market, you very well may find companies willing to pay for such a thing. If you are already in the catering or event-planning business, and love running games, maybe there are opportunities to combines work and hobby. For me, the biggest obstacle is that this is work. You are making your cherished hobby work. If you want to make money, you cant run it like you do your home game. You'll be an entertainer. You'll get tired of running the same games. If you are constantly making new material, the prep time will make it unprofitable. You have to be customer focuses. You'll be judged and commented on. You'll have to deal with unreasonable players that you may depend on for your livelihood. For some people, it will work out. For most it won't. Loving to do an activities doesn't mean you'll love trying to make a living from it. If I had to make a living running games, I would probably come to hate gaming. [/QUOTE]
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